Izmir Symposium calls for age-friendly disaster action plans

The 5th International and 14th National Izmir Advanced Age Symposium, organized by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and the Aegean Geriatrics Association, has concluded with the publication of a final declaration. The symposium focused on creating age-friendly and disaster-resilient cities.

A key outcome is the preparation for the ‘Age-Friendly Izmir Disaster Action Plan’. This initiative aims to foster inter-institutional cooperation between the City Council, universities, local governments, elderly organizations, AFAD, the Turkish Red Crescent, and various provincial directorates of family, social services, and health.

The declaration emphasizes that elderly individuals should not be viewed merely as a group in need of protection, but as active stakeholders in decision-making processes. Their expertise and local knowledge should be integrated into all stages of disaster management, including risk assessment, determining evacuation routes, identifying temporary shelters, and evaluating drills.

Furthermore, the symposium highlighted the need for vulnerability maps to identify individuals living alone or those with mobility, sensory, or medical device dependencies. The declaration also addressed the impact of the climate crisis, such as extreme heat, forest fires, air pollution, and floods, on the elderly, calling for uninterrupted chronic disease monitoring and emergency health services during and after disasters.